Thomas Greene - Information please

[Alain Maréchal]

I have seen LPs ( I have one or two) on which the conductor, usually of the London Festival SO, is listed as Thomas Greene. Research has failed me. Did he exist or was it a nom-de-stylus?

[pastoralguy]

Never heard of Thomas Greene, I'm afraid. Probably a pseudonym for contractual reasons. Are you impressed with the music making on offer on these Lps, Alain?
What label and date are the Lps?

[Alain Maréchal]

https://www.discogs.com/artist/1067737-Thomas-Greene

He appears only on Musidisc, a French label, and from memory the Debussy is quite idiomatic. I must listen to some more. I note that one of the soloists is Ronald Smith, who certainly existed and was a fine pianist (his Balakirev Sonata is first-rate). I recently decided not to buy an LP at Emmaus and now regret it.

[seabright]

I suspect jiggery-pokery! ... Looking down the "discogs" list I noticed a Ravel / Debussy CD by the "London Festival Orchestra" and "Thomas Greene" playing the same items that had appeared on an Everest LP / CD recorded by the Rochester Philharmonic under Theodore Bloomfield. This reminded me of a pirate LP label years ago entitled "Peerless Classics" which stole a whole load of Everest LPs and issued them under various pseudonyms. I have one such release of Richard Strauss works (Till Eulenspiegel, Don Juan and the Dance of the Seven Veils) played by the "Americana Symphony, Eugene Davis conducting." It was in fact an Everest recording made by Stokowski and the New York Stadium Symphony Orchestra (the NYPO in fact).

It seems that we have the same situation on this list. I wouldn't mind betting that Rimsky-Korsakov's "Scheherazade," again with "Greene" and the "LFO" is in fact the Eugene Goossens / LSO version on Everest. Similarly, the Dvorak "New World" attrib. "Greene" is in all probability the Leopold Ludwig / LSO Everest version. It would take a bit more detective work to identify the various different conductors whose common name is "Greene" but it is definitely a pseudonym and "Musidisc" is just another pirate label!

PS: The Gershwin coupling, the first on the "Greene" list, is undoubtedly the Everest Steinberg / Pittsburgh SO recording with Jesus Maria Sanroma at the piano in "Rhapsody in Blue", not "Ronald Smith"!

[vinteuil]

.

... also : Georges Sebastian -

"With the RIAS Symphony Orchestra he recorded for Remington:

R-199-174 - Wagnerian Favorites: Tannhäuser (Prelude to Act III, Arrival of the Guests at the Wartburg), Lohengrin (Prelude to Act III), Meistersinger (Prelude, Dance of the Apprentices and March).
R-199-176 - Symphonie Fantastique (Berlioz). According to the French web site Patachon this same recording was available on Musidisc RC 830 and the conductor's name was Thomas Greene conducting the London Festival Orchestra and as year of recording 1966 is mentioned."

http://www.soundfountain.org/rem/remsebas.html

[french frank]

Certainly someone's pseudonym. One entry from 'Clues to Composer Discography', by JF Weber:

:35>Louis Fourestier, Cento Soli Orchestra
Omegadisk OSL 9 # ; Record Society RS/RSS l; Club du Disque 119/ 1119; Musidisc RC 830 [pseudonym Thomas Greene, London Festival] -- 1957- 58? [12:19, 5:40 (6:40 + 5:21) 4:13, 8:40]

When orchestras and artists were identified by pseudonyms, and I don't suppose the same pseudonym identified the same people every time.

[Alain Maréchal]

The Gershwin coupling, the first on the "Greene" list, is undoubtedly the Everest Steinberg / Pittsburgh SO recording with Jesus Maria Sanroma at the piano in "Rhapsody in Blue", not "Ronald Smith"!

I wonder if the producers of the Musidisc LP tried to think of a convincingly English name for the pianist and inadvertently came up with "Ronald" and "Smith".

Thanks to all for the detective work.

(30 RC 848 looks very much like a Fistoulari programme to me.)

[pastoralguy]

Alain's heading raises an interesting question.

Namely, does it matter whose name is 'on the tin?' If the music is well played and well conceived, does it really matter if it's Karajan und Die Berliner Philharmoniker or Joe Soap and the Bogroll Philharmonic? Does the music making 'speak' to the listener or does it not?

I sometimes wonder if we, as connoisseurs of music making, do tend to get 'hung up' on labels.

Opinions?

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I think it matters in cases (such as these) where credit isn't given where it's due, pasto - if it's a good performance, there should be some way of identifying the people responsible. One of the delights of the BRILLIANT boxed sets for me has been discovering first-rate performances and recordings by artists who I wouldn't have encountered if it wasn't for such inexpensive sets. Grateful to be able to put the correct names to them

[Alain Maréchal]

One of the delights of the BRILLIANT boxed sets for me has been discovering first-rate performances and recordings by artists who I wouldn't have encountered if it wasn't for such inexpensive sets.

Yet one of the Briiliant boxes has a set of standard repertoire symphonies played by a justly celebrated orchestra which knows the music backwards conducted by a very experienced famous conductor who together produce a very sound, utterly reliable, but uninspired set of performances. Sometimes the combination does not produce a spark (and that particular combination can, as other recordings prove). I was glad to hear them, but will not play them again.

ps I suspect the Thomas Greene who conducted the Grieg concerto and Peer Gynt suites was George Weldon.

pps, if you have not seen these Musidisc LPs yourselves, I should mention that, unlike Fidelio and similar labels the pressing and sleeve production qualities are high.